Moss Point Man Pleads Guilty to Drug Conspiracy

Gulfport, Miss. – Dale Ricardo Easterling, 43, of Moss Point, Mississippi, pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola, Jr. to conspiring to distribute cocaine, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Freeze with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Mississippi.

On July 13, 2018, a Louisiana State Trooper stopped a car driven by Easterling traveling east bound on Interstate 10. The trooper searched the car and found a hidden compartment with seven kilograms of cocaine. Easterling admitted that he was taking the cocaine back to Moss Point for further distribution. He also admitted that this was not his first trip back to Moss Point with cocaine.

On the same day, FBI Safe Streets Task Force agents executed a search warrant at Easterling’s home and found ammunition, over 500 grams of marijuana brownies, 1.5 kilograms of marijuana, 833 grams of Fentanyl, 5 grams of heroin, and 99 pills made to look like oxycodone, but actually containing fentanyl and acetaminophen, a dangerous and sometimes deadly combination.

Easterling will be sentenced on February 14, 2019, by Judge Guirola, and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine.

The case was investigated by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, Drug Enforcement Administration, South Mississippi Metro Enforcement Team, and the Louisiana State Police. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathlyn R. Van Buskirk.